ROOD 001: San Francisco

This post is part of what will undoubtedly be an ongoing series, which I am lovingly calling ROOD (Ridiculously Out Of Date). Posts which I have had in draft mode for, oh, some number of... months, but for whatever reason, have not devoted the time to finishing (sigh). Though blogging is generally meant to be a timely affair and these posts are sadly irrelevant, I still feel compelled to share them with you. I hope you find this trip down memory lane an enjoyable one.

I wrote about the giant trees I visited in Sequoia NP last April, but I have yet to tell you about the rest of the trip. Over 9 whirling days in northern California, we did gawk at mind-blowing trees, but we also marvelled at granite cliff-faces and waterfalls in Yosemite, wined with good friends in Sonoma, and walked and ate our way around San Francisco. What. a. city. It might just be one of my favourite cities. Ever. 

I could live quite happily there. Not that I'm not digging the minus 24 windchill today... but ocean thoughts are luring me... There's just such a great vibe. Eclectic. Colourful. Open. Interesting. Original. Anything but stale. I met a woman in a café who told me she wasn't going in to work that day because there had been a full moon the night before, and the last time she went to work after a full moon, well, I probably didn't want to know about it.

In short, I loved it, and I can't wait to go back.

Happily wandering the alleyways of Chinatown.

If I lived in SF, I would live here. At the City Lights bookstore.

Steep streets and bay windows in North Beach (Nobles Alley + Grant Avenue).

Seriously slanty streets.

The streets between the streets (Allen off Hyde.) This delicious pastel scheme is making me weak in the knees.

The aptly named Havens Street. Not even a street. A tucked-away rambling alley.
I would split my time between here and the bookshop.

North Beach and Telegraph Hill from the top of Lombard Street.

The Sea lions of Pier 39. Heaped.

The Castro.

Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park.

Pacifica. There is something infinitely calming about being at that point where ocean meets land.